In this photo provided by KIRO- TV, smoke rises at the scene of a helicopter crash outside the KOMO-TV studios near the space needle in Seattle on Tuesday, March 18, 2014. The station says the helicopter was apparently coming in for a landing on its rooftop Tuesday morning when it possibly hit the side of the building and went down, hitting several vehicles on Broad Street. (AP Photo/KIRO-TV)

In this photo provided by KOMO-TV, a car burns at the scene of a helicopter crash outside the KOMO-TV studios near the space needle in Seattle on Tuesday, March 18, 2014. The station says the helicopter was apparently coming in for a landing on its rooftop Tuesday morning when it possibly hit the side of the building and went down, hitting several vehicles on Broad Street. (AP Photo/KOMO-TV, Kelly Koopmans) MANDATORY CREDIT: KOMO-TV

SEATTLE—The challenge of determining what caused a fatal helicopter crash near the Space Needle that killed two men on board and burned a third on the ground is complicated by the fire that charred much of the wreckage, a federal investigator says.

A large portion of the helicopter, which was built in 2003, was made of composite material that burned, so “a lot of those parts and pieces are simply gone,” Dennis Hogenson, with the National Safety Transportation Board, told a Wednesday news conference.

Still, investigators plan to reconstruct the wreckage they recovered from a busy intersection and moved a secured hangar in Auburn, about 30 miles south of Seattle.

“I’m confident that we’re going to figure this out,” Hogenson said.

Investigators are reviewing a number of scenarios, including examining what role, if any, construction cranes in the area played, he said. They’ll focus on the engine, the airframe, the pilot and the environment.

A crane operator was in radio contact with the pilot on a prior landing on a rooftop helipad, though there’s no substantial evidence to link the cranes with the crash, Hogenson said.

Investigators also are poring over pilot, maintenance and company records, and they will recreate the crash scene to look for anomalies, he said.

The helicopter wasn’t equipped with a cockpit voice recorder or flight data recorder, which aren’t required.

It may be months before federal investigators know what caused the KOMO-TV news helicopter to hit the pavement and burst into flames Tuesday, setting three vehicles ablaze and spewing burning fuel down the street.

A preliminary report could be released at the end of this week or Monday. A final report with a cause could take as long as a year.

The investigation team includes representatives from Airbus Helicopters, engine manufacturer Turbomeca, as well as the helicopter operator.

Witnesses reported hearing unusual noises coming from the aircraft as it lifted off from the helipad on top of Fisher Plaza, KOMO’s headquarters, after refueling. Witnesses also reported seeing the helicopter rotate before it crashed.

“It pitched sideways. It was off balance, and you could tell right away something wasn’t right,” said Bo Bain, an excavation foreman at a nearby construction project who watched the aircraft take off. “The helicopter was struggling to stay up. It spun around, hit the top of the tree and landed on the street.”

Seconds later, “It was just a fireball. The whole thing burst into flames,” he said.

On Wednesday, people left flowers at the crash site to remember former KOMO veteran photographer Bill Strothman, 62, and pilot Gary Pfitzner, 59. Both men were working for Helicopters Inc., which owned the Eurocopter AS350 helicopter. The aircraft was leased jointly by KOMO and KING-TV.

The King County medical examiner’s office said Wednesday that both men died of blunt force injuries.

Hogenson said the pilot had about 7,700 hours of overall flight experience and about 900 hours in the model that crashed. The last maintenance inspection occurred in January, and there were no outstanding issues, he said.

“If I knew I had Bill guiding me through a story, with his eyes looking through the lens, I knew my story would be better,” said Denise Whitaker, a KOMO reporter and anchor.

Whitaker added that she always felt welcomed and safe when she flew with Gary Pfitzner. “He’d give me a grand tour of the city when possible,” she said.

Mark Pfitzner told KOMO that his brother, Gary, put himself through flight school, loved to fly and “tried to do his best reporting for people.”

News anchor and reporter Molly Shen remembered Strothman as “one of the best storytellers to have ever graced the halls of KOMO.”

Richard Newman, 38, who suffered serious burns when the helicopter crashed on his car, was breathing on his own Wednesday, said Susan Gregg, a spokeswoman at Harborview Medical Center. The Seattle man remained in serious condition.

A man and a woman who were in vehicles that were struck by the helicopter were uninjured.

————

AP writer Manuel Valdes contributed to this report.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in News

In Mears Park, the holiday luminescence has lost some luster. The twinkle has tapered. The shine has dimmed. On a chilly Monday evening, Jacob Moore and his rat terrier, Tucker, wandered through downtown St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood, where they were underwhelmed by the holiday light display. The bars were busy, but the trees inside Mears Park were bare, though lights...

The River City Sculpture Tour, which this year brought a moose, giant dragonfly and chokecherry tree to downtown Stillwater, has been such a success that the organizer is planning to make it bigger and better in 2017. Artist and tour founder Julie Pangallo said Tuesday that she plans to expand the to downtown Bayport. “The tour has been phenomenally well-received,” Pangallo...

A 60-year-old Faribault man was killed Thursday evening when his car collided with a semitrailer in Rice County. The Minnesota State Patrol reported that Randy J. Hansen was driving a 1995 Pontiac Grand Am southbound on Highway 21 and making a left turn to continue eastbound on 21 shortly after 5:30 p.m. when his car collided with a semi going...

Transit for Liveable Communities and St. Paul Smart Trips are merging Jan. 1 to create a new nonprofit organization to promote buses, trains, bikes, car sharing, walking and other alternatives to putting more cars on the road.

DULUTH, Minn. — A Roanoke, Va., multimillionaire who made his fortune in health care and has recently purchased coal mines wants to buy the bankrupt Magnetation LLC operations on Minnesota’s Iron Range and put laid-off employees back to work. That’s the plan of Tom Clarke, owner of ERP Compliant Fuels and now ERP Iron Ore, who has brokered a deal...

Renaldo Terez McDaniel was looking under the hood of his car outside a St. Paul auto-parts store on a summer evening last June when three shots were fired. One hit the 31-year-old McDaniel in the shoulder, another pierced his stomach. The third struck his head.